Theories of Reading 1 intro week 1, 2/10/2017

Dr Charlotte Mathieson

Office hours: Tuesday 2-3, Friday 10-12, 41AC05

Buy Rivkin lit theory asap (covers semester 1 and 2)

Download and print e-resources

Critical analysis assignment 500w due 20/11

Final exams 15-26 Jan

Theory provides a set of principles for literary criticism; it guides the reading and interpretation of
texts.

Theory arose from methodologies constructed in other disciplines; the moment of theory occurred
in the 1960s.

Pre-theory 18th century

Meant the whole body of valued writing, including philosophy, history and essays
Tool of refinement; educating the emerging middle class

Romantics

Narrows specifically to imaginative/creative works

Ideological purpose broadens
Literature was a force against emergent industrial capitalism
Artist was seen as a purposeful visionary
See Shelley A Defence of Poetry 1821: Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the
world.

Victorians

Literature emphasised the value of morality, truth and comfort

See Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy: Beauty and of a human nature perfect on all its
sidessweetness and light of a few must be imperfect until the raw and unkindled masses of
humanity are touched with sweetness and light.

Late 19th century

Literature becomes a distinct category, has a special purpose and a social role
Not yet a reputable profession but emerging as a distinct discipline
Begins as an education for working class men in industrial cities such as Manchester;
intended to educate and improve workers
 Enters academies of Oxford and Cambridge but perceived as inferior to the Greek and Latin
classics

Post WW1

Rising middle class

See:
-I. A. Richards 1929 who suggests only reading the text no context a scientific and formal
approach
-William Empson 1930, suggests seven types of ambiguity; verbal difficulty
-F. R. Leavis in the 1930s, suggested close readings and the spiritual core of the text (the
life). Literary critics test for life
Canon???? Great Tradition????? ????
(1930s were pretty radical as literature thought itself to be pretty anti-
establishment) (it was still conservative really)
Literature inherently good; universal truth can be found
Truth revealed through close reading; the literary scholar becomes an important figure and
justifies the discipline

Post WW2

Wave of social change

Deeply critical of old ideals
Renewed social energies
Dissipating the structures that led to the war in the first place
See 1968 student riots in Paris: 20,000 students, police brutality, 11 million workers
eventually joined
Figures such as Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes and Louis Althusser
Opens up interdisciplinary enquiry with subjects like psychology and philosophy
Questions the stability of knowledge; encourages multiple simultaneous readings and
interpretations
Evolution and variation

Now!!!1!

No single or definitive reading

Encouraged to adopt an informed approach
Literature discipline fully integrated into academies through 80s and 90s
Theories provide framework for study
Canon remains central but is challenged, with more emphasis on diversity

To Do
Read theory texts
Supplement with plain English explanations (recommended Barry, Eagleton, Bennett &
Royle etc)
Come to the seminars with questions!!